The Tampa Bay Lightning's Building Of An On-Site Garden Drives Down Foodservice Costs And Gives Fans Organic Options

Hot dogs, pretzels and beer. For years, these three items were the food group staples at NHL games. As Americans become not only more health conscious, but more focused upon where their food is sourced from, NHL arenas are responding by providing fans with new, locally-sourced food choices.

One such arena is the Tampa Bay Lightning's home, Amalie Arena. In August, Amalie Arena and the Tampa Bay Lightning in partnership with their foodservice company, Delaware North, unveiled the largest hydroponic garden at a sporting arena. The creation of the garden was the result of the arena and team's focus upon green initiatives. "We have a substantial green initiative here. This garden, though, was the one missing piece we didn't have. We wanted to incorporate this garden to provide produce for players, suites and concession areas," Bruce Ground, SportService's general manager said.

Equivalent to one-acre of farmland in size, the hyrdoponic garden outside of Amalie Arena hosts 3,000 growing spots. In those spots, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, arugula, romaine, eggplant, mixed greens, and herbs are grown for dishes that will be served not only to Lightning fans, but also the team's players. In that regard, Amalie Arena's new hydroponic garden addresses several important goals: Serving fans healthy innovative food, ensuring that players receive proper nutrition, building upon the team's sustainability plan and cutting foodservice costs.

According to Richard Mathis, Amalie Arena's executive chef, the presence of the garden on-site at the arena has allowed he and his staff to make some unique culinary creations this NHL season. These creations are focused in part upon invoking fans' senses beyond taste, as Chef Mathis and his staff also bring a visual element to their creations. "In our premium club areas, we are doing living green salad stations. At those stations, we cut the greens right in front of the fans," he noted. Overall, though, in terms of using the garden's greens to produce menu items for fans and players, Chef Mathis explains, "It's all about the flavor and bringing the freshness of the garden inside. We believe it is healthier produce. Much less fertilizer is used in our garden and our produce has much more flavor."

Uniquely, produce from the garden is provided to Lightning players through various menu items that Chef Mathis and Delaware North prepare for them ahead of each game. Chef Mathis says that before each game, Lightning players are surprised with new menu items incorporating the garden's fresh produce. As far as the players' responses thus far to fresh produce grown where they play being incorporated into their meals, Chef Mathis says they are "very happy."

While fans and players enjoy the taste and health benefits of the garden's fresh produce, Amalie Arena leaders are pleased with the sustainability benefits driven by the garden. According to Ground, the hydroponic garden uses 90-percent less water than a traditional one-acre farm. "We are saving 300,000 gallons of water a year because of the garden. It is a closed system. All of the water and nutrients run through the plants and percolate into the tank," he noted. Ground noted that Amalie Arena is working towards a LED certification and that "this plays a role."

The sustainability benefits of Amalie Arena's hydroponic garden are significant. Yet, there are also substantial economic benefits to the arena in having an on-site garden. According to Ground, $37,000 was spent to build the farm. However, Ground and Amalie Arena expect to recover those costs relatively quickly. "We see the break-even point being in year two. We are going to be able to produce enough produce to offset what we were purchasing in the past," Ground said. Just months into the garden's existence, Amalie Arena is already self-sustaining on green onions, herbs and romaine lettuce.

As teams continue to create innovative menu items for fans and fans continue to demand that the brands they support adopt environmentally sustainable practices, the Tampa Bay Lightning's building of a hydroponic garden is an example other teams should follow. With farm to fork a growing trend amongst food connoisseurs and the low cost of installing a hydroponic garden, teams arguably stand to lose if they do not consider similar initiatives. They stand to lose first, because they are arguably missing out on a stream of revenue that exists in the form of those fans willing to pay premium amounts for fresh, farm to fork food. Secondly, they arguably stand to lose in terms of the costs they incur to purchase produce elsewhere. Thus, the building of a garden on-site is something every team and arena with enough space on hand should consider.